[Days of Future Pas
]
Since the spread of the covid-19 pandemic over the world,
we have been obliged to strike a balance between pursuing daily activities and taking steps to forestall the coronavirus invasion.
Things will probably be little different in the new year. We have to seek "neo-modus vivendi," altering our routines
for the time being. This new normal is characterized by extended solitary time, of which we have to make the most.
More personal time provides us with ample opportunity for re-encountering historical figures.
Perhaps connecting with those authors that so nurtured our minds and imaginations in our youths.
Personally, I would enjoy browsing through the pages of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions night after night
before getting to sleep. I am always so impressed with his candor and sensitivity.
Then comes Friedrich Engels' Socialism: Utopian and Scientific,a real eye-opener.
This book galvanized my supple mind and sparked my sympathies for the bourgeoning Socialist Movement.
The jolt of coming across Engels reverberated all through my early years.
Reading those books now in my eighties would doubtless refresh my memories of those formative times
and enable me to make new findings my young mind overlooked.
However, you cannot experience a real sense of fulfillment without engaging yourself in creative activities congenial
to your aptitude and inclination. There are many kinds of creative activities,
such as painting, composing music, gardening and making and building things.
As for myself, when I was in junior high, I would skim through haiku journals my father subscribed to.
In writing haiku, an image comes to mind and the author's sensibilities react to the image's natural features or social significance.
Then the poet matures and refines the image to form a short verse.
It seldom happens, but when one's sensibility interacts subtly with the flavors of nature in all its respective seasons,
the effect might create an image in one's mind so intense, that it stimulates quite a fulfilling sensation, a real godsend.
The aforementioned "godsend" or something quite like it would be common to many other "creative pursuits",
in which one would surely capture and thus appreciate the essence of life itself.
(H. Tarumi)
Each year, during the first three days of the New Year,
a cumulative total of around 99 million people visit Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan.
Even in the current pandemic situation, when local governments advise residents to forestall holiday celebrations that involve crowds,
they say 83.5 % of Japanese want to make a hatsumode, the first visit of the year to worship at a shrine or temple.
Apparently, many people are prepared to risk infection in order to fulfill their New Year's duties.
Every January, my mother and grandma would join the 'Sansha-Mairi' tour, hopping between three popular shrines,
purchasing new amulets for the kitchen stove and lucky charms with blessings from the Gods of Good Health.
This bus tour was always conducted by friendly and well-experienced guides.
Originally, visiting shrines and temples on New Year's Day was not a Japanese tradition.
It became more popular at the end of the Meiji period with the opening of countrywide railway transportation network
in the late 19th century. But this year, to prevent infectious diseases, our government's urging us to avoid the '3 C's',
closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings, especially for the New Year holidays.
Ladles are gone from shrine water basins. Can you bring your own to purify your hands and mouth before worshiping?
Some places have even closed their chozubachi due to the risk of infection.
This January, many shrines/temples ask you to visit in small groups throughout the month instead of January 1st.
Most shrines and temples have started selling their official lucky items, charms, talismans, ema votive horse tablets,
hamaya lucky arrows, and omikuji fortunetelling slips for the new year in advance.
There's no need to come to a shrine or temple on the first day of the year to purchase those items.
In some shrines in Tokyo, 'air touch' bells have appeared. Stand under the bell, and you will hear the sound of ringing.
And now with the QR cord, you can make cashless offerings as well.
Regardless of whether you visit a shrine or a temple or choose to stay at home on New Year's Day,
have fun all through the year 2021!
(Kazuyo)
Did you know it's 2681 this year?
This isn't science fiction. It's absolutely true.
According to the Japanese method of counting years, that is, beginning from the start of Emperor Jinmu's reign in 660 BC,
"Koki" 2600 would be equivalent to the tumultuous year 1940 in the Christian era.
During the war, many Japanese people celebrated this as an auspicious year.
Even now, songs celebrating that era's victories seem to strike a chord among elderly folks who can still recall them.
Having been born long after that nice-round-numbered year, I know little about those times.
Still, my mother surprised me when she proved she could hum one of those patriotic songs.
The Japanese defeat in World War II deterred people from recalling songs and slogans from the Imperial era,
and the words and tunes are all but forgotten now.
In January 1991, I joined a sightseeing group touring the United States' Pentagon and Department of Defense building.
When I came to a showcase housing the Instrument of Surrender, signed by Japan in September Of 1945 bringing the war to an end,
I paused to reflect on this extraordinary document. I felt somehow overwhelmed seeing the signature of Emperor Hirohito,
the grandfather of Japan's present Emperor, and I wondered why Japan would start a war. Japan's geography must have been one factor.
Our country has limited natural resources necessary for building heavy industry.
Expanding its territory was key to developing the economy and building a great nation.
Moreover, Japan's indigenous religion, Shinto, holds that the Emperor is "kami" or gods' descendant.
This belief, linked with militaristic propaganda, was a crucial strategy in encouraging ultra-nationalism among the populace
and generating support for the war effort. In those days, the Emperor was regarded as divine, and Shinto declared the state religion.
Throughout the war, the Japanese people had been assured that their army and navy would ultimately prove victorious
in their battle against Western imperialism. The announcement of Japan's surrender broadcast to a populace
that had never heard their Emperor's voice, created a great deal of confusion.
The Japanese people were not only now suddenly unsure of their sovereign's status, but even how they should think of him.
Although GHQ dismantled the institution of State Shinto during the Occupation, Shinto has remained the national religion
and boasts the longest religious history in the world. Shrines are the first places many of us go on New Year's Day.
My family included. Why do we have such a custom as a matter of course despite the fact that 62% of Japanese consider themselves
non-religious? Someday I'd love to understand such issues well enough to explain them to people from abroad,
hopefully capturing their interest and answering whatever questions they have about our culture and traditions.
But these sort of questions are going require a fuller understanding of our country's peculiar history.
I'm not sure if history really repeats itself, but I think it does contain significant clues for a better future.
(Miwa N.)
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